Speedway Blog

NASCAR Weekend - Saturday

Saturday, March 10, 2012

6:15 p.m. - That'll do it for Day 2 at LVMS. We'll be back tomorrow for the main event. Comedian and actor Tim Allen will give the command to start engines for the Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 400 shortly after noon.

6:10 p.m. – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. recorded his first victory of the season and second top-10 finish in three races at LVMS. Stenhouse took the lead on pit road and led the final 55 laps to become the first series regular to win in 16 events at the speedway. "I definitely feel like we had the car to beat," said Stenhouse. "I found a line that I liked to run and the car was coming around to it. (Crew chief) Mike Kelley made some awesome pit calls there and I think we just had the car to beat."

6:00 p.m. – Mark Martin started 7^th , led 44 laps and finished 2^nd , 5.904 seconds behind winner Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. It marked Martin's first start in a Joe Gibbs Racing entry. "What a special treat it was to be able to join the Joe Gibbs organization," said Martin.

"It's just something that we've wanted to do for a long time and the stars didn't line up until now to do it." Martin has run seven Nationwide Series races at LVMS with seven top 10 finishes. His secret. "I get to drive really fast cars," he explained. "That's what it is – really fast race cars. Lucky me."

5:45 p.m. – Elliott Sadler held on to the points lead with a strong third place finish today. Sadler led the first 26 laps. It was Sadler's 2nd top 10 finish in six starts at LVMS. "We put in a lot of guts and effort today," said Sadler. "

We made a little bit of a mistake there at the beginning of the race. My splitter was hitting the race track. We decided at halfway to come in, raise the hood and put a round in the front to get my car back off the race track. We went all the way to the tail end of the field and drove all the way back to third." Sadler leads Austin Dillon by 15 points with three races in the books.

4:45 p.m. – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. wins the Sam's Town 300 by 5.9 seconds over Mark Martin. Elliott Sadler finishes third. Trevor Bayne is fourth and Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan comes home fifth.

4:20 p.m. - Back under caution on Lap 158 for the 7^th time as Jeremy Clements and Tayler Monsam make contact while racing for the Lucky Dog spot. Mike Bliss gets the free pass. The leaders stay out. Danica Patrick pits for fuel and a chassis adjustment. Back to green on Lap 162. The top five are Stenhouse, Martin, Dillon, Bayne and Gaughan.

4:10 p.m. - Under caution for the 6th time on Lap 146. TJ Bell's Chevrolet is stalled on the track. The free pass goes to James Buescher and the leaders pit. Stenhouse gets off pit road first followed by Martin, Bayne, Dillon and Gaughan. The speeding police catch Kenny Wallace. He'll restart at the end of the longest line. Back to green on Lap 150.

4:00 p.m. – Bad news for Keselowski who has to pit for fuel. Seems the tank wasn't completely full after the last stop. Keselowski loses four laps on pit road as the car stalls and the team scrambles. Keselowski is finally down and away and gets popped for speeding. He'll serve a pass through penalty and lose another lap. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch is back in the race, 71 laps down.

3:40 p.m. – Brian Scott slams the outside wall hard and brings out Yellow #5 on Lap 97. It appears Trevor Bayne came up on the right side and took the air of Scott's car. Scott got loose, may have overcorrected and turned abruptly into the wall. "I tried to save it," said Scott. "It ended up hooking and went straight into the wall. I just got sucked around. I made an error. I just should have just spun it out." The leaders hit pit road. Mark Martin gets fuel only and takes the lead off pit road. Allgaier, Hornish, Keselowski and Stenhouse are second through fifth. The green flag waves on Lap 104.

3:15 p.m. – Yellow #4 on Lap 70 for Jennifer Jo Cobb, who spins and crashes her No. 13 Dodge in Turn 1. The leaders pit for service. Brendan Gaughan has to slam on his brakes to avoid Morgan Shepherd on pit road. Kahne leads the field of pit road followed by Keselowski, Scott, Stenhouse and Martin. Back to green on Lap 74.

2:55 p.m. – Yellow #3 flies on Lap 43 for a single car crash in Turn 1 involving Joey Gase. The leaders stay out. Danica Patrick and Justin Allgaier head to pit road. Top five under caution are Kahne, Scott, Stenhouse, Keselowski and Mark Martin. The field is back under green on Lap 48 and Scott takes the lead for the first time today.

2:40 p.m. - The second caution flies on Lap 26. Kyle Busch crashed off Turn 2 after contact with Hornish. Busch takes the Monster Energy Toyota to the garage. Pits stops for everyone as Sadler leads them down pit road. Kyle Fowler gets the free pass. Kahne beats Sadler off pit road to take the lead. Sadler is second. Martin, Scott and Allgaier start third through fifth. Busch is in the garage as the field takes the green flag on Lap 31.

2:30 p.m. - Under caution for the first time on Lap 11 as Kyle Fowler spins off Turn 4. Benny Gordon gets out of shape trying to avoid Fowler and narrowly misses colliding with pit road. The leader stays on the track while several drivers pit, including Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick, Ricky Stenhouse, Brendan Gaughan and Brian Scott with many taking fuel only. The top five under caution are Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Justin Allgaier and Sam Hornish, Jr.

2:20 p.m. – Elliot Sadler leads the flag to green for the Sam's Town 300 and jumps out to the early lead. A close call for Mark Martin who gets loose and slides back to tenth in the running order. At Lap 6, the top five are Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Brian Scott, Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon.

1:30 p.m. – Cup Series practice is over and Joey Logano was the quickest at 182.790 mph. Mark Martin was second fastest at 182.698 with Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose and Martin Truex, Jr. rounding out the top five. Greg Biffle's team had to go under the hood to fix a broken spark plug and make further assessments.

12:30 p.m. – We're just 10 minutes into the final Cup Series practice session and we've had already seen two incidents. Jimmie Johnson smacked the wall hard in the No. 48 Chevrolet and sent his team scrambling for the backup car. "I had to chase it up the track and once it got in the gray, it was over from there," said Johnson. "We have a great Kobalt Tools backup. I know we've got a real fast setup to put in this racecar."

Johnson will give up his sixth place starting spot for the race. Marcos Ambrose lost control coming off Turn 4 but managed to keep his car off the wall and will avoid going to a backup car. Juan Pablo Montoya went to his backup before qualifying yesterday but he'll lose his 29th place starting position after the team changed the engine in the No. 42 Chevrolet.

12:15 p.m. – Upon further review, Kyle Busch's team discovered the frame on the M&M's Toyota is bent a little too much for comfort and they've rolled out the backup car. The primary Toyota was damaged yesterday when Busch ran over some debris but the team was able to make repairs. "(Kyle) came off the truck this morning and he was fast, consistent," said Joe Gibbs Racing vice president of racing operations Jimmy Makar. He felt good in it. To give that up is a little bit disheartening but it will be alright."

The team plans to have the backup car ready in time for the final practice session. After the session, they'll put the primary engine in the car in preparation for tomorrow's event. Busch will give up his second place starting position and start at the rear of the field.

11:45 p.m. – Nationwide Series qualifying is in the books and Elliott Sadler will lead the field to green after posting a lap of 181.366 mph completed in 29.774 seconds. This is Sadler's first pole in six races at LVMS and is 12th in 167 series starts. Kasey Kahne will start alongside Sadler with Austin Dillon, Brian Scott and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five. Danica Patrick held her own with a 179.283 mph lap and will line up 12th on the grid.

11:15 p.m. - Ryan Newman and sponsor Quicken Loans are offering fans a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in charge of a Sprint Cup Series team. The grand prize winner of the You're the Boss sweepstakes receives $10,000 cash, racing apparel and an all expenses paid trip to Charlotte, NC and a trip to the track as the honorary team owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.

"I thought my wife had that domain all locked up," joked Newman. "Their slogan is 'Engineering to Amaze' and as an engineer I can represent in the best way." Fans can visit quickenloans.com for more details and to enter the sweepstakes.

10:30 a.m. – The first Cup Series practice of the day just wrapped up. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. jumped to the top of the speed chart and stayed there with a fast lap of 184.957 mph. Hedrick Motorsports had all four cars in the top ten with pole winner Kasey Kahne second, Jimmie Johnson fourth fastest and Jeff Gordon ninth.

A.J. Allmendinger toured the track third fastest in the No. 22 Penske Dodge and Kyle Busch clocked in fifth before bouncing off the wall. The No. 18 Toyota sustained some damage to the right side and the crew is busy making repairs.

9:20 a.m. - Today's Sam's Town 300 features 200 laps around this 1.5-mile speedway. Prerace ceremonies start at 1:30 p.m. with VIP introductions and special awards. Speedway contest winner Bridgette Foster gets her chance to belt out the National Anthem just after 2 p.m. Former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman will serve as today's Grand Marshal. It will take a custom Dodge Viper limo to carry Goodman, his showgirl entourage and his martini around the track.

7:35 a.m. - Good morning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway! We're back for Day 2 and we've got a full day of NASCAR action on tap. The Sprint Cup cars will be on the track at 9:30 a.m. for the first of two practice sessions. After that, we'll set the field for today's Nationwide Sam's Town 300. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. set the pace in yesterday's final practice and he'll be the 43rd of 43 drivers to qualify.

Cup Series final practice starts at approximately 12:20 p.m. The Nationwide Series takes the green flag for today's 200-lap race at 2 p.m. Stick around after the checkered flag for the Speedway Children's Charities driver auction on the Midway. The Neon Garage opens at 9 a.m. Come on out and join us!

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